1. Field of the Invention
In general, the invention relates to luggage with crushable portions and to methods of making such luggage.
2. Description of Related Art
Travel has increasingly become a part of modern life. In today's highly interconnected world, many executives travel thousands of miles a year attending to business. Leisure travel has increased as well, and many people now consider vacations and other trips of a scope and duration that would have been unheard of in the past.
Most travelers use luggage to store and protect their possessions while traveling. Many different types of luggage are in use today, including conventional hard-sided and soft-sided suitcases, duffel bags, garment bags, and upright roller travel bags. Of the conventional types of luggage, upright roller travel bags, which are suitcases that have integrated wheels and an integrated rigid, telescoping handle, have become particularly popular because they can be wheeled easily from place to place, are stable and easily controlled while in motion, and have handles that conveniently collapse into the bag.
One problem with conventional luggage is that when it is not in use, it often takes quite a bit of space to store. Even luggage sets, which allow smaller pieces of luggage to be stored inside larger ones, still require enough space to store the largest piece. However, storage space is often at a premium, making luggage storage an inconvenient hassle.
There are a few solutions to the problem of luggage storage. For example, soft-sided pieces of luggage, such as duffel bags, are generally very collapsible and can be stored easily in a minimum of space, but they are not able to protect possessions as well as hard-sided luggage. Hybrid solutions that provide some of the strength and rigidity of hard-sided luggage while collapsing or folding for storage may offer consumers the most flexibility and the best balance of protection and storability. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,500,547 to Bettua et al. discloses hard-sided luggage that folds along predefined fold lines into a storage configuration.
However, while hybrid luggage that includes both rigid and flexible portions may be advantageous for the user, both in terms of the protection it offers and its storability, making such luggage can present materials and engineering challenges.